THE WORLD OF LYMPH
Imagine your cells packed into a swimming pool. Now try to imagine a hose coming to the edge of the pool (the equivalent of an artery) and pouring necessities like oxygen and macromolecules into the watery environment. When these supplies get close to a cell the cell brings them inside and uses them to do important cell business.
You are imagining how tissues are actually set up. In our bodies the cells are packed in water. The things the cells need must be diffused through the water to get to the cells. But the cells also poop in the water, so the water must be continually cleaned. The dirty pool water along with the leftovers the cells don’t want (toxins, macromolecules, bacteria and viruses) are gathered up and this is lymph.
The lymph fluid is transported through lymph vessels to lymph nodes. Nodes act like little chop shops where everything is broken down, recycled, or sent for elimination. The cleaned fluid is then returned to the circulatory system through ducts that live behind your collar bones.
A fun fact is that some people have 80 lymph nodes and some people have 800 but the total volume of the nodes is about the same from one person to the next.
It is estimated that if our lymph system stopped working entirely we would expire within a day or two. That’s how little time it would take for us to pollute our internal environment to levels that cannot sustain life.
Our lymph system also plays an important role in regulating fluid volume and pressure in tissues and is involved with preventing infections from spreading.
There are things that interfere with our lymph system from time to time. Pressure and temperature changes such as with airplane travel almost automatically mess things up for a few days. A sluggish system results in fluid backing up, which can restrict movement and even cause pain, sometimes headaches. Tissues get ‘boggy’ and hard to get supplies and defences to. Mostly it sorts itself out within a few days. But if this goes on long enough and is severe enough the vessels and their fluid pumping mechanism can become forever compromised, and this is a serious problem. Limbs become edematous and large, and painful, and most of your life is taken over by trying to manage fluid, temperature, and pressures, including wearing compression garments. There is not a kernel of fun within 200 metres of an edematous limb.
What can we do to take care of our lymph system? Not a lot, but the few things we can do are really effective. Most lymph flows in the tissue just under the skin, or very deep in the body and these are outside of the effects of the muscular system to exert pressure. So exercise and movement is not effective at moving lymph. Compression is effective, and immersing yourself in water is beautiful way to get gentle compression all over your body and stimulating lymph flow. This is why people feel like they need to pee when they are in a pool.
Manual lymph drainage techniques are very effective. You can learn to do these on yourself – valuable or possibly necessary if you live or travel where skilled help is not available. But finding a professional who is trained and experienced in lymph drainage can be a life line. It is very smart to get some lymph work done from time to time train your body’s tolerance to manual lymph work. If you’ve never had this done, you must start slowly with little bits at a time, as the effects can be very potent until your body is used to it.
If you are interested in learning some techniques there is a lot of information on the internet and You Tube. Most of these are based on the work of Dr. Emil Vodder who debuted his techniques in 1936. A French Physician and Osteopath named Bruno Chikly brought understanding of and working with lymph up to modern standards around the turn of this century, and his information is excellent if you can find it.
It is worth your time to find a skilled practitioner or two and to learn a few techniques to work on yourself with. As our health system continues to crumble we all need to learn self care skills. Meaningful conversations about preventing health problems must include the lymph system. What are you doing to look after yours?
Jeff Harvie – Physiotherapist
Bluewaterphysio.ca
